One of my Continuing Quests is to find the birthplace of my grandfather, William Andrew Inhoff, (1877 – 1918) – see this page for details.

For the reasons outlined, I am focusing my search at this point on an area between Frankfurt and Fulda in Hesse in Germany.

Area Northeast of Frankfurt, Germany

The distance from Frankfurt to Fulda is about 50-60 miles. Oberkalbach, just south of Fulda is an area from which many Germans emigrated to Hardin County, Ohio. Others came from the Freiensteinau area.

(Click on maps for a larger image)

This zoomed-in map of the area above in the rectangle shows Freiensteinau, along with Reinhards and Hintersteinau. Church records from Hardin County show Resch’s from Reinhards. Other records show Leibolds from Hintersteinau.

Today I added a page of what I know so far about my paternal grandfather, William Inhoff, who came as a 14 year old from Germany to Hardin County, Ohio. In searching the ship’s list of passengers, I can’t find any family names that I recognize. Could he have come alone? I believe he came to Ohio to be with his aunt’s family. From all that I have collected I am thinking that his home may have been in Schluechtern area of Hesse, northeast of Frankfort, Germany.

Looking for the Family of William Andrew Inhoff, focusing on Hardin County, Ohio to find his German roots

I believe that he, or at least some of his family may have come from Hesse, perhaps in the area of Fulda, possibly in the area of Freinensteinau (Reinhards) (see maps). For discussion of why I am focusing on this area, please read the following:

Having searched census records in Hardin County from 1850 – 1900, I found only a couple of Resch and Leibold (Libold, Leipoldt, etc) families Thus, lacking other directions my focus is on this part of Germany.

Margaret Leibold, born 1833 in Hintersteinau, Germany – see this post about this Leibold family in early Hardin County, Ohio